Lester, a fearless entrepreneur

Rob Lester must have had the hide of a rhinoceros to get theManfeild motor-racing track established at Feilding.

A recent chat with him echoed that and provoked this article.

From the early 1960s, he faced countless challenges, mostly from within his own sport that twice he offered his resignation.

Therewere even angry opponents at his own Manfeild board tablewhile fellow circuits saw Manfeild as unwanted competition.

When Lester retired in 2003, he moved to Turangi withwife Wendy (who died in 2018). Aged 84, he still lives there and this account is derived from his notes obtained by motor-racing identity Russell Harris.

Lester lived in Fiji until 1959 and arrived in Palmerston North two years later. He first went to the Manawatū Car¯ClubatOraces hakea and caught the motor-racing bug.

By 1968 he was the Car Club vice president and mulling over the idea of a permanent circuit.

Proceeds from ¯hakeaO racing had been invested in land on Rangitīkei Line on Palmerston North’s outskirtswith a circuit in mind. It was ruled out because of restricted access from state highways and in 1971 the landwas sold for a healthy $34,000.

Queen Elizabeth Park at Paekakariki was favoured byWellington’sMGCar Club (Wellington still relies onManfeild for racing) and Feilding’s Taonui Aerodrome was ruled out by civil aviation restrictions.

Then along came Feilding I, A & P Association secretary Rex Coleman offering the current site, although dilapidated and swampy.

The Levin Car Club was invited to join the project, but turned it down flat, the start of bad blood between Lester and the Levin people who at one stage took out an injunction against him. Their circuit folded in 1975.

Lester was publicly accused of running ‘‘a failed motor-racing track in Fiji’’ and one newspaper suggested he was a ‘‘blight on NZ motorsport’’.

The Manawatū District Council received 79 objections to the site, many concerned about noise, so Lester asked for their names, called on thosemost concerned and placated them.

When the hearings were heard, there were only three objectors and the new circuit was approved.

He took his track plans to Formula 1 driver Chris Amon at Bulls and he insisted on an open, flowing design rather than a tight track.

Meanwhile, Lester was earning a living selling anaesthetics tomedical and vet schools and was often overseas.

In London, he got approval from the Royal Automobile Society, but on his return, Wendy informed him Motorsport of NZ (MANZ) had not approved the circuit design.

Fortunately, the RAC signature overruled MANZ’s and the first sods were turned by a Higgins earth-mover in 1973. A neighbourwho had objected to the project built an illegal concrete dam across a shared drain and the flooding destroyed parts of the circuit’s back straight.

He defied a court ruling before the problem was solved when the dam ‘‘blew up’’ one morning.

When a competition to name the circuitwas launched, ‘‘Manfeild’’ (Manawatū-Feilding) won out, submitted by one Carlton Fosdyke who, 20 years later, was revealed to be Wendy Lester.

After the first club mans’ meeting in October 1973, Manfeild was fined $50 by MANZ for inviting one extra club to themeeting.

Lester officially became the circuit promoter that year on an honorarium of $4000 and Wendy took over as secretary

MANZ boss Ron Frost, formerly from Levin, then warned off Australian Formula 5000 drivers coming to Manfeild in 1974, but Manfeild went ahead and Frost’s bluff evaporated.

In 1975, Lester decided to join his enemies by getting himself elected to the MANZ committee and took up racing Formula Vees. He won his last national title in 1995 aged 59. Later he tried Formula Fords, but three serious crashes in ‘‘Jethro’’ saw him utter, ‘‘nomore’’.

When a group within the car club in 1981 accused Lester of having a conflict of interest for driving a sponsor’s Holden, the Lesters resigned. A solution was found after wise counsel from Pat Higgins, who Rob described as the glue that held everything together.

To help Manfeild’s always strained finances, the first Central Districts Field Days were held in 1987 and 14 hectares were purchased from a neighbour, the former Manfeild enemy. An eclectic mix of events were promoted from cycling, to road walking and jetsprints.

Lester had another table-thumping clash with Australians over a new Formula Holden series and when the wetManfeild round cost Manfeild $90,000, he again offered to resign. Laterwhen he applied to stage the NZ Grand Prix, Frost said comparing Pukekohe with Manfeildwas like comparing ‘‘the Ritz with a piecart’’.